‘Head first’: Joseph Pouniu ready to tackle next NRL challenge with Titans following life-changing injury
Three years on from the injury that robbed the NRL’s next great prop of his chance to play football, Joseph Pouniu is embracing his next challenge as part of the Gold Coast Titans.
The Big Friendly Giant rolls through the offices of the Gold Coast Titans, a 110kg man mountain who, at a standing height of 200cm, could block out the light at the NRL club’s Parkwood headquarters.
But Joseph Pouniu is the light that burns brightly at the Titans.
The 19-year-old flashes a 1000-kilowatt smile that warms the heart, but it’s his daily battle with quadriplegia that stands as a beacon of hope, resilience and the power of the human spirit.
The fightback of ‘Big Joe’ is one of the most inspirational stories in Australian sport.
Almost three years ago, Pouniu was rated the NRL’s next forward superstar when the junior Titans prop crashed headfirst into a goalpost and severely damaged his spinal cord a fortnight before his 17th birthday.
In his first tell-all interview with The Sunday Mail, Pouniu opens up about life as a quadriplegic, his tears, his setbacks, his triumphs, his true love ... and one of the greatest achievements of his young life.
“I have to take this battle in life head on and that’s what I will do,” Pouniu said.
“That’s my attitude.”
Just yesterday, Pouniu took the keys to his new home.
It is the most significant step yet in a complex journey that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking, with Pouniu determined to leave his family home at Burpengary to start a new life of adult independence on the Gold Coast.
The move will enable him to be closer to his workplace at the Titans, which he visits every Monday after taking up a job as a video analyst following the tragic end to his promising rugby league career.
Pouniu will have daily carers, as well as the unflinching support of girlfriend Sophie, the partner he describes as his “high-school sweetheart” after the pair began dating at Burpengary’s St Eugene College.
His mother, Nuseta, admits she is a nervous wreck at the thought of her son leaving home, but Pouniu doesn’t want his condition to define who he is - and limit his zest for life.
“I just want that independence in a way,” Pouniu says.
“I’ve had to have that support to do day-to-day things, which at times can be quite frustrating, just not being able to do simple things for yourself.
“That mental side of it has been hard, it’s taken some time for me to be the person I am today.
“To have Sophie, I’m so lucky. We are high-school sweethearts, she works at Redcliffe hospital doing some admin work there.
“As hard as it is, what we have been through has made us stronger as a couple.
“It will be nice to take the next step with her, moving out with her and she will come down (to the Gold Coast).
“If you meet her, you would feel the presence she has. She is an amazing person. I don’t know if I could have done any of this without my family and her, they have been huge support factors.
“There’s a lot of nerves about the next chapter of my life, for sure. But I am keen to see how the Gold Coast life is, experience some new things and it will be good to see the outside world and experience adult things, like paying bills.”
Pouniu, who turns 20 next February, two days before Valentine’s Day, concedes the challenges imposed by severe disability was not a life he could ever have envisaged.
Big Joe, as he is affectionately known by his school and football mates, was on the express train to NRL super-stardom.
With a generosity and smile as gargantuan as his natural talent, Pouniu had it all. An altar boy with his local church. A Year 12 leader and high-achiever at St Eugene. A physical footballing specimen who at 199cm (he has since grown to two metres) and 110kg was the captain and front-row spearhead of the junior Titans.
Such was his talent, Pouniu would have joined the Titans NRL squad this season. He was on the verge of signing a three-year, $400,000-plus NRL contract just weeks before the sickening, split-second injury that changed his life forever.
“Growing up, I just wanted to play NRL,” says Pouniu, who was born in Auckland before moving to Queensland with his parents.
“I was a Cowboys supporter growing up. I loved Johnathan Thurston and Jason Taumalolo and I remembered them winning the premiership with the Cowboys in 2015.
“I based my game off Jason Taumalolo, I loved the way he played.
“When I joined the Titans, playing NRL for them was up there in my dreams.
“My younger brother (18-year-old Brian) is playing for the Redcliffe Dolphins and I see the next generation of kids coming through and their potential.
“Even now, I still think about wanting to play NRL and it is hard, but there’s only so many things I can do in life now.
“It’s not just about football for me anymore.
“I have to look after myself generally and try and be as healthy as I can.”
Pouniu’s manager Simon Mammino is adamant it was only a matter of time before the Samoan sensation dominated the NRL.
“I honestly believe he would have been a superstar,” said Mammino, who has managed two decades of elite NRL talent, including current Titans captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui.
“Joseph was a generational player, that’s how good he was.
“In my 20 years as an agent, I’ve rarely come across a kid who trained like him.
“He was a mix of Tino and Pat Carrigan (Brisbane Broncos premiership-winning forward). He was 199cm, moved like a back, and was very dominant in defence for his age group.
“I have no doubt he would have been a star of the NRL and played 20 Origins for Queensland.
“Football aside, he is one of the most beautifully-mannered young men I’ve ever managed.
“There’s a photo Joseph keeps of him walking a grade one kid to class. That’s the type of leader he was at school. He just cared about other kids.
“The Pouniu family is the most beautiful family.
“If I had to wheel out the textbook family, this would be it.”
January 28, 2023 is a day indelibly etched in the minds of the Pouniu family.
It was two days after Australia Day. Amid the baking Queensland summer heat, another rugby league season was around the corner.
Pouniu woke up ready for his first test of the calendar year - a junior representative pre-season derby trial between the Titans’ under-17s and their Brisbane Broncos counterparts at Burleigh.
Pouniu was a freight train in the first half. He was terrorising the Broncos. The best player on the field heading to halftime.
Then, after the break, came one of the sport’s biggest tragedies since former Knights forward Alex McKinnon suffered a career-ending spinal injury against the Storm in 2014, rendering him a quadriplegic.
The Titans kicked downfield. A Broncos player escaped a number of Gold Coast defenders. Pouniu charged upfield and made a beeline for the Broncos player, showing no regard for self-preservation as he flung himself at full speed into his opponent.
“Joe hit the goalpost hard,” recalls Mammino, who was one of around 1500 spectators at the ground.
“He went head first, chin tucked down. I was scared.”
The game was abandoned, with medicos attending to Pouniu as an ambulance was called.
“I don’t remember much,” Pouniu recalls.
“I just remember going in for the tackle and the next minute I was lying on my back.
“I was looking up at the sky. I was in shock. I wasn’t sure what was happening.
“As a footballer, you get those knocks and niggles.
“I thought it would just be another injury, but it didn’t hit me until I was in ICU (Intensive Care Unit).
“I didn’t understand what a spinal-cord injury was. I started to wake up in hospital and it was scary. I was scared being such a young kid, seeing IV (intravenous) poles and that sort of stuff.”
Pouniu recalls a surgeon advising him he would have to undergo emergency surgery to stabilise his neck and reattach the C4 and C5 discs to his spinal cord. In the coming days, surgeons informed Pouniu, flanked by mum Nuseta, father Levi, brother Brian and his manager Mammino, that he was quadriplegic.
“When the doctors said there’s a chance I will never walk again ... that can take a toll hearing it,” Pouniu says.
“It’s not easy for anyone to take hearing that, especially being as mobile and independent as I was.
“I damaged the C3. The human body is very unique and all quads are different. Getting out of the hospital, I’ve had to get to know my body.
“It is hard to take now. It’s hard for people to understand what I feel.
“It’s hard to describe in words. People who go through disabilities and any form of mental health, it can take a toll on your body and your mental state.
“Everyone experiences their own difficulties in life ... it’s how you deal with it and continue on with life.
“The family support has really helped me through.”
Pouniu is recounting his story, in vivid detail for the first time, in the Titans’ boardroom. He is sitting in his powered wheelchair amid a collection of framed Titans NRL jerseys he one day hoped to wear.
Titans recruitment boss Anthony Laffranchi sits beside Pouniu. Titans majority owner Rebecca Frizelle, who with former co-owner Darryl Kelly wrote a cheque for $400,000 to honour every cent of Pouniu’s NRL contract, is five metres away working in her office.
Pouniu is so polite he apologises to Frizelle when his wheelchair engine makes the slightest grinding noise going past her office. But his heartbeat - and beaming smile - is the pulse of the Titans organisation.
“He never complains, never,” says Frizelle, who oversaw Pouniu’s reintegration to the Titans in an office job.
“When you see his smile in the office, he just lights the place up.
“In terms of my dealings with this special family, Joe, Seta, Levi and Brian, we feel honoured to have Joe in our lives and at our club.
“His extraordinary determination, intellect and kindness is a genuine inspiration to all that come across him.
“For me, personally, he makes me want to do better every day.
“From a professional perspective, I’m so looking forward to Joe moving to the Gold Coast permanently.
“I know that Joe will continue to grow and achieve in so many facets of life - some that he may have never felt possible or even thought about yet.
“But knowing Joe, he will create pathways and opportunities for others that will come after him.”
Pouniu spent almost a year in the spinal unit at Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital. To be exact, 324 days. He was discharged from hospital a week before Christmas of 2023, but his family - and faith - were always within touching distance.
Nuseta visited every day. Brian would feed his older brother and climb into bed to lay with him. Together, they would look up at the ceiling, where prayers and messages of hope were taped for Joseph to read.
Throughout his 45-minute interview with The Sunday Mail, Pouniu is remarkably upbeat and stoic. The only time he cracks is when he is asked about the support of his family. He puts his head down and begins sobbing. Laffranchi pats him on the back, his actions a tangible metaphor of the Titans’ support.
“Joseph has great mental strength,” Laffranchi said.
“He would hate me saying it, but every Monday, it’s an exciting part of the week when Joey comes in because he lights up the building. He has an impact on everyone here.
“His attitude to work is phenomenal. Joey was a very smart player and the way he looks at players, I get him to cut up tapes and he sends back everything I’m looking for.
“Not many kids have his football brain at such a young age. His understanding of the game and talent ID is quite impressive.
“As tough as it is to listen to Joey’s story, and I could never imagine it myself, his strength is taking the next challenge on.
“That’s just the way he has approached everything. Joey now wants to help people get better, that’s what he did on the field and that’s what he is doing off the field.
“He will be a mainstay of the Titans organisation.
“Joey is very loyal and as committed to the club as we are to him.”
The rugby league industry has rallied around Pouniu. Various campaigns have raised $1.2 million for his family and ARL Commission boss Peter V’landys pledged $10,000 from his own pocket to assist in what will be a lifelong battle.
The day-to-day challenges are constant. The Pouniu’s Burpengary home had to be completely modified for wheelchair access and Pouniu’s health has to be monitored closely. He takes 12 to 13 tablets daily and a hoist is required to help Pouniu get in and out of bed given his hulking 100kg-plus frame.
Nerve-transfer surgery has helped Pouniu get some movement in his hands - he can text on his mobile phone using his knuckles.
The family has had to come to terms with Autonomic dysreflexia, a life-threatening condition for quadriplegics that can dangerously spike blood pressure if Pouniu contracts even the smallest infection.
“It can happen all of a sudden,” says Pouniu’s mum Nuseta.
“His blood pressure can go from, say, as low as 120, which is his normal BP, to over 200 if he has an episode.
“Trying to find the cause can be hard. It’s not always the blocked catheter, it could be something as simple as a wound that Joseph can’t feel, or an ingrown nail.
“He does have more movement in his hands now than when he got out of hospital, but they aren’t strong movements. He can’t grab anything. He uses a hand splint for eating.”
Asked how she and devoted husband Levi have coped with the dramatic life shift, Nuseta says: “It hasn’t been easy, there’s been a lot of learning.
“There’s a whole new life now that not only we have to face, but also Joe faces.
“There’s days where he has his moments, he just wants to be left alone, so he will go outside and have his headphones on or read a book or listen to music. We give him his space to clear his mind.
“It’s been a long journey, a tough journey, but Joseph has been so strong, he has handled it so well. I’m proud of him.”
So supremely athletic on the football field, Pouniu is stoking his competitive juices in wheelchair rugby league.
“You get pretty sore after it,” he says with a laugh.
“I have had a few comps, I’m enjoying it.”
Titans coach Josh Hannay is relishing Pouniu’s thirst for rugby league knowledge.
“Since joining the club, I’ve learned more and more about Joey’s story and the courage of the young man,” he said.
“He’s such a valued member of our staff here within our football department and I’ve quickly learned that he has a keen eye for the game and he’s a wonderful evaluator of talent.
“He’s a natural in that space.
“He’s a real quiet achiever here and we are blessed to have his character and expertise within our four walls.
“We love him.”
During Pouniu’s 11-month hospital ordeal, a regular visitor was Titans chairman Dennis Watt. He is adamant the code will never abandon the Titans rookie.
“As rugby league people we pride ourselves on caring and leaving no-one behind,” Watt said.
“Up to 1000 equally big-hearted individuals contributed to the fundraising to give Joseph a fighting chance. Joseph was clearly destined to be a star in the NRL and to us he always will be because his courage and his great faith set him apart.
“Finishing year 12; attacking his rehab with unrelenting vigour; playing wheelchair football; moving into his own unit; planning to get his driver’s licence; and working here at the club with his natural football IQ and an absolutely brilliant smile that lights up the entire place.
“Joseph is a very special young man from a special family.”
His NRL career now behind him, Pouniu is determined to help other promising stars live out their NRL dreams.
“It didn’t feel real when they said I wouldn’t walk again,” he said.
“Being so young, I envisioned my life before and to have a sudden change, you just can’t think it will ever happen that way. It did take a toll on my mental state and obviously physically I’ve suffered, too.
“But I am doing a business course at the club which has opened opportunities for me to look outside of footy.
“Footy was a big part of my life and now it’s more the mental side of it. You don’t see people teaching others about their mental capacity being a massive part of who you are as a person and how you deal with some different scenarios that are thrown up in life.
“That’s my passion now. To help the next generation of kids play NRL.
“The Titans have been a massive part of my journey and I can’t be thankful enough for what they have done for me.
“I just want to give back.”
Pouniu’s move into his Gold Coast apartment is the great unknown. From today, a new chapter has begun. His meals have been cooked daily for nearly two decades. A mother’s love will be tested by a “special” son whose impact is more profound than he realises.
“I just want Joseph to be happy in life,” Nuseta says.
“He will have around-the-clock carers, it will be trial-and-error and we will see what he is comfortable with living in his own home.
“I want him to have his independence back and I want him to be healthy. I have no bad thoughts at all. I just hope that he continues to remain positive through it all.”It’s definitely taken a village for us to get through this.
“Whatever his plans and dreams are moving forward, we just pray that Joseph can fulfil them and live the best life he can.”
If anyone deserves that, it’s Big Joe.
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Originally published as ‘Head first’: Joseph Pouniu ready to tackle next NRL challenge with Titans following life-changing injury
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